New Voyages/Phase II

the popular fan film series Phase II (formerly New Voyages) has finally set the date for the release of their next episode, "Blood and Fire," Plus Phase II has a new Spock. TrekMovie speaks exclusively to him and executive producer James Cawley.

The next episode from the fan series Star Trek Phase II, of "Blood and Fire, Part 1" should hit the net by the end of October, and to give you a taste, the Phase II team just released the action-packed opening teaser (including the new opening credits). Check out the video below.

This weekend both of the high profile fan-made productions, Star Trek Phase II and Of Gods and Men, will be holding showings at Dragon*Con in Atlanta. Both productions have also just released news, with Phase II unveiling their new USS Enterprise and OGAM announcing plans for a DVD.

In last week’s FanMade column, TrekMovie reported on the production of the latest episodes for Phase II (formerly New Voyages), but some things have changed and so producer/star James Cawley has given TrekMovie a new update on how the production went and what is next for this popular fan series. Plus he sent over some exclusive pictures from "Enemy: Starfleet".

On Saturday in Beverly Hills, the team behind the fan series Star Trek Phase II (formerly New Voyages) premiered the ‘Night in 1969 Edition’ for “To Serve All My Days” featuring Walter Koenig. The original Chekov was there, along with PII star/exec producer James Cawley and much of his cast and crew. TrekMovie.com was there as well…see below for a report along with pictures from the event.

James Cawley is not the only veteran of the fan film Star Trek New Voyages (now Phase II) who is headed to the big screen in JJ Abrams’ new Star Trek. Jeff Quinn, New Voyages’ first Spock, has also landed a small Trek role. At the Saturday night screening for the Phase II episode “To Serve all My Days – 1969 edition,” Quinn talked to TrekMovie about his Star Trek movie experience.

The popular independent fan production Star Trek New Voyages is changing its name and changing direction. Starting immediately New Voyages will be known as Star Trek: Phase II, adopting the name of the planned but never produced ‘second Star Trek series.’ Show star and executive producer James Cawley announced the change at the Farpoint Convention in Baltimore on Saturday. Cawley talked to TrekMovie.com about the new name and new direction for the show formerly known as New Voyages.

EXCLUSIVE: As the creator of the independent fan production Star Trek New Voyages, James Cawley has sought to recreate an exact replica of Star Trek The Original Series, right down to the braid on Kirk’s sleeve and the color of the bridge railing. So it is not surprising that he has been on the skeptical side with regards to JJ Abrams’ Star Trek ‘re-invigoration.’ But a chance encounter on the Paramount lot has turned the purist Calwey around…so much so that he is now literally ‘on board.’ In an exclusive video interview (below) Cawley tells TrekMovie.com all about his new Trek adventure and what he now thinks of Abrams and his new Enterprise.

In November we reported that Star Trek New Voyages was working on a re-edited version of their second episode “To Serve All My Days” featuring Walter Koenig and written by D.C Fontana. Originally planned as an Internet release for Christmas ’07, it has now turned into a gala event.

The Star Trek New Voyages episode “World Enough and Time” (featuring George Takei) has won TV Guide’s Best Sci-Fi Webisode Award. It beat out entries from The 4400, Battlestar Galactica and Afterworld. More info at TVGuide. Congrats to STNV producer James Cawley and his team.

A year ago the independent fan production Star Trek New Voyages released their second episode “To Serve All My Days” featuring Walter Koenig reprising his role of Pavel Chekov. The episode was well received by the fan film community, but was also critiqued for not fully meeting the STNV goal of truly seeming like it was from the ‘4th season’ of Star Trek The Original Series. The STNV are now hard at work creating a new version of the episode to be released this Christmas which they call the ‘Night in 1969’ Edition. “We are making it feel like it came right from NBC in 1969,” executive producer James Cawley tells TrekMovie.com.

Two weeks ago the Star Trek New Voyages team premiered their third episode "World Enough and Time" in an Internet streaming event. Unfortunately at the time they were not ready for the demand and it was taken down, but the problems are all sorted out and now it is available for streaming again at a new location (small and medium WMV only…currently limited to 300 simultaneous streams). Plus there is an official bit torrent site up now as well. The STNV team have also secured even better streaming providers which should come online within a few weeks. Now that things are sorted out for WEaT, the STNV team are moving on to their next episodes. Executive producer and star James Cawley talked exclusively with TrekMovie.com about what we can expect next from the popular independent Star Trek production.

In the interest of full disclosure I must say that I have never been a fan of the so-called Star Trek fan films. Sure I can give them credit for good effort and they seem like they are a lot of fun to do, but in the end they usually are no more impressive than community theater…and often worse. The efforts of the Star Trek New Voyages team have so far been the shining star of this lot with very impressive production design, sets, costumes and even some stunt casting, but to date they have still fallen short of being something that I could consider a professional production due to too many weak links spoiling otherwise good work. This is why I am happy to say I was pleasantly surprised after watching latest episode "World Enough and Time" starring George Takei. Although it is not without its flaws, this fourth episode from New Voyages is certainly the best Trek fan production ever made and likely the first that could quality as a truly professional production worthy of the name Star Trek.